My Analysis of the Stanford Prison Experiment

1529 WordsJan 29th, 20186 Pages

We all see prisons as an everyday thing: people do bad things, they get thrown in, they stay there for a length of time. However, in 1971, there were some at Stanford who believed there was something deeper to be studied there, so they took on the experiment that would unexpectedly propel their psychology program to infamy and change the lives of those who participated forever.
Experimenting with a prison first requires a prison. With the input and consultation of ex-prisoner Carl Prescott, Stanford was able to turn the basement of Stanford’s psychology building was converted into a functional prison. Classrooms and offices became prison cells with lonely, hard beds. They were fortified so no one could escape once locked in. The walls were made bare and bleak, as if to wash away any hope that a person kept there might have. Closets were even cleared out to be solitary confinement chambers for the “prisoners” who misbehaved. The next stage was to fill these cells with prisoners. A survey was given out to all students who were interested in participating in the study. Anyone selected for the experiment had to be both mentally and physically healthy. This condition would help the operators behind the prison experiment determine what the change was in the actors if there was one. Students played not only the roles of prisoners…

The Stanford Prison experiment, in my opinion is a remarkable experiment . It isn’t ethical in the least but the results that have emerged have exceeded even what Mr.Zimbardo set out to do.
The aim of seeing whether people change their basic personalities , moralities , values when subjected to an external hostile environment has been successfully proven. My honest opinion is that , at that time in 1971 , it was rational enough to think about going out of the way to get an answer to a particular…

Critique of The Stanford Prison Experiment
The Stanford Prison Experiment of 1973 raises troubling questions about the ability of individuals to exist repressive or obedient roles, if the social setting requires these roles. Philip K. Zimbardo, professor of Psychology at Stanford University, began researching how prisoners and guards assume submissive and authoritarian roles. He set out to do this by placing advertisements in a local newspaper, stating that male college students would be needed…

The experimental study that I chose to write about is the Stanford Prison Experiment, which was run by Phillip Zimbardo. More than seventy applicants answered an ad looking for volunteers to participate in a study that tested the physiological effects of prison life. The volunteers were all given interviews and personality tests. The study was left with twenty-four male college students. For the experiment, eighteen volunteers took part, with the other volunteers being on call. The volunteers were…

but learning about the Stanford Prison Experiment has made me question what would really happen if I was there. Would I be the submissive prisoner, the sadistic guard, or would I stay true to myself? As Phillip Zimbardo gave the guards their whistles and billy clubs they drastically changed without even realizing it. In order to further understand the Stanford Prison experiment I learned how the experiment was conducted, thought about the ethical quality of this experiment, and why I think it panned…

mentioned above can be applied to the Stanford Prison Experiment; in which the environment, the participants, and construals brought about behaviors that may not have been how the participants actually would behave in real life.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted in 1971 by Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University. The purpose of the experiment was a landmark study of the human response to captivity, in particular, to the real world circumstances of prison life. In social psychology, this idea…

important issues today. The Stanford Prison Experiment, conducted over 40 years ago, brought these ethical issues into the limelight and remains one of the most controversial studies in the history of studying human behavior. This paper aims to define ethics, describe risk/benefit ratio, provide a brief background on the Stanford Prison Experiment, and evaluate the impact it has had on psychological research.
The Stanford Prison Experiment
The Stanford Prison Experiment probably tops a lot of lists…

ethical or could it be said that ones true colors would show? A group of researchers, headed by Stanford University psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo, designed and executed an unusual experiment that used a mock prison setting, with college students role-playing either as prisoners or guards to test the power of the social situation to determine psychological effects and behavior (1971). The experiment simulated a real life scenario of William Golding’s novel, “Lord of the Flies” showing a decay and…

The Implications of the Stanford Prison Experiment
In 1971 Dr Philip Zimbardo conducted an experiment in the basement of
Stanford University. This involved imprisoning nine volunteers in a
mock up of Stanford prison, which was policed by nine guards (more
volunteers). These guards had complete control over the prisoners.
They could do anything to the prisoners, but use physical violence.
The subjects were all students applying for summer jobs to get some
money. To make…

The Zimbardo prison experiment was a study of human responses to captivity, dehumanization and its effects on the behavior on authority figures and inmates in prison situations. Conducted in 1971 the experiment was led by Phlilip Zimbardo. Volunteer College students played the roles of both guards and prisoners living in a simulated prison setting in the basement of the Stanford psychology building.
Philip Zimbardo and his team aimed to demonstrate the situational rather than the dispositional causes…

Ethics and the Stanford Prison Experiment
In 1971 Philipp Zimbardo carried out one of the most ethically controversial psychological experiment the ‘Stanford Prison Experiment’. Originally he aimed to study how much our behavior is structured by the social role we occupy. Describing the study briefly 24 undergraduates with no criminal and psychological record were chosen for the research to play the roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison situated in the basement of Stanford University…